Velocity Trigger Review: The Essentials

Every AR 15 fanatic knows that the rifle is the best all-purpose rifle. It’s not just baseless enthusiasm either. One of the AR 15’s greatest strengths is that it is highly modular. You can turn it into any kind of rifle you want. It has a very cost-effective prices, too. Whether you want to use your AR 15 rifle for competition, home defense, or even hunting, you can optimize it to suit your needs and preferences. You can create a one of a kind rifle that will do exactly what you want it to do. The best starting point is the trigger. Yes, that very small part makes a huge difference in your rifle’s performance. Here's our velocity trigger review.

Velocity Triggers are one of the best makers of AR 15 aftermarket triggers. That’s not an empty statement.

The Company

Image via: velocity triggers

The company is located in Phoenix, Arizona. It was founded by trigger designer extraordinaire, Tom Vehr, who has had quite a colorful and illustrious career in the trigger making industry, which has spanned more than 30 years. The Vehr name is a very respected name when it comes to guns, and particularly triggers. That’s because the family owns and runs Timney Triggers, a powerhouse in the trigger industry.

Tom Vehr designed triggers for Timney Triggers for 14 years until Knight Rifles headhunted him (in 1995) for his superpower – making amazing triggers. 13 years later (2008), Tom left Knight Rifles to start Vehr Manufacturing (the parent company of Velocity Triggers), which continues to supply triggers for Knight and other well-known gun makers. I guess you could say the man loves his triggers.

As you know, a company is only as good as the man at the helm. With a man like Tom Vehr at the helm of Velocity Triggers, you can only expect the best triggers for your AR 15. Having Tom at the helm of Velocity Triggers, you would expect to pay through the nose for his extensive knowledge and skill. But you don’t. Sure, aftermarket triggers can be quite pricey, but not so with Velocity Triggers. You can get a very good trigger for as little as $150.00.

If that brief history of Velocity Triggers didn’t convince you to get yourself one of their triggers, then perhaps you need a full Velocity Triggers review. I’m much obliged to give it to you.

Velocity Triggers – Reviewing the Trigger

Let’s get to the nuts and bolts of this brilliant trigger so that you can see just how much of a difference it will make to your rifle. With 30 plus years of experience under their belts, Velocity Triggers provides nothing less than excellence from a Velocity Triggers trigger. Remember, a trigger is one of the most important components of your rifle. After all, it is the only thing between you and a perfect shot.

Design and Build Quality

One thing you need to understand about the Velocity Triggers AR 15 trigger from the onset is that the cheaper price doesn’t mean quality is compromised. In fact, the opposite is actually true. Velocity Triggers put in a lot of work and quality controls to ensure you get the best trigger for your AR 15 rifle. Let me show you.

Concerning the materials and processes that go into making the main components, the trigger shoe, hammer, and disconnector are made from heat treated tool steel (very durable and corrosion and abrasion resistant) and are wire EDM-cut (Electrical discharge machining – which is an advanced form of precision cutting). For the hammer and disconnector, Velocity Triggers ensures they are as durable as possible by giving them a Robar NP3 treatment. Never heard of that? It is a finish with a high lubricity and low friction coefficient, meaning it reduces wear and increases the life expectancy of plated parts. And in our case, those parts are the hammer and disconnector.

When it comes to aesthetics, the trigger shoe is treated with black oxide and then hand polished, giving it a beautiful and pleasing look. The trigger housing is machined from 6061 T6 billet aluminum (well known for its tensile strength and durability) and then it is anodized black.

Furthermore

One important feature about the AR 15 drop-in trigger is that it has set screws that help to tension the unit inside the receiver. These push the trigger upwards against the trigger pins, locking it (and the pins) solidly in place. This means the trigger can fit in any AR platform receiver snugly, leaving no room for wiggle, a common problem with most aftermarket triggers.

Depending on your preference, the Velocity Triggers AR 15 trigger comes with either a curved or straight blade, but both have a nice solid feel to them, and you won’t be disappointed. Enough about the build quality. Let’s take a look at what really matters in a trigger – the performance.

Shooting Down the Competition

There are few basic factors that make or break a trigger. Those factors are what make the Velocity Triggers AR 15 trigger very attractive as it outshines most of the competition. Let’s take a look at them below.

Triggers are funny little things. They may be small, but they make a big difference in the performance of your AR 15 rifle. Most of the characteristics that make for a good trigger require high levels of precision that many fail to achieve. Let’s see how Velocity Triggers in these areas.

Pre-Travel

Also known as slack or take-up time, trigger pre-travel simply means the distance the trigger moves prior to the sear being released. This is quite a tricky feature to get right. Many triggers don’t nail it as well as Velocity Triggers do – apart from the ELF trigger. There is no take-up with the velocity trigger. Once the hammer is cocked, you will be right up against the sear and there will be not even so much as a wiggle.

Creep

No one likes a creepy trigger; it just plain distracts from the job at hand – placing a precise shot. Defined as the distance the trigger travels from the moment the sear starts slipping off the hammer/striker to the movement the gun fires, creep is an undesirable element in the process of firing a gun. Velocity triggers do a good job in this aspect as there is virtually no creep, especially if you are shooting rapidly. However, when squeezing the trigger very slowly, you may feel just a tad bit of some creep. Not enough to hinder your aim.

Break

Trigger break in a good trigger is supposed to come as a “surprise”. This simply means there must be no tell-tale signs in the process of pulling the trigger that will alert you to the fact that the trigger is about to break. The simple reason is that if your trigger warns you of when it will break, you will flinch, causing your aim to be compromised. This is why Velocity triggers are exceptional. The trigger break is crisp and clean – just like breaking a candy cane - it’s sweet.

Overtravel

This is the distance a trigger travels from the point it breaks to the point where it stops. It is important that a trigger has the shortest overtravel as possible as this will facilitate for a faster reset. If you want a trigger that will allow you a fast reset time, what better name can you trust than Velocity? That’s because Velocity triggers have a very short overtravel distance.

Reset

The travel of the trigger back to a position where it engages again is called trigger reset. Although the Velocity trigger travels a bit before it gets to its reset position, it is better than most triggers. The best part about the Velocity Triggers AR 15 trigger is that the reset is tactile. It has a nice sound and feel to it. You won’t miss it, but neither is it disturbing.

Pull Weight

Trigger pull weight is simply the amount of force required to pull the trigger to the breakpoint. Velocity triggers come in a number of pull weight configurations for you to choose from (3, 4, and 4.5 pounds), making it easy to customize your beloved AR 15 rifle to your exact desires.

As for pull quality, Velocity Triggers boasts of creating a trigger with the pull quality of a bolt action rifle. This trigger, as earlier stated, is sweet. And, truly speaking, you just have to taste it for yourself in order to appreciate it.

Final Thought About The Velocity Trigger Review

So there you have it. If you are looking to upgrade your AR 15 rifle, the best place to start is with a great trigger – a Velocity Triggers trigger to be exact. I know this trigger sounds so great it’s hard to believe you can lay your hands on it, but you can. After all, it will only cost you $150.00. A small price to pay for such exceptional quality.

Velocity Triggers offers a true drop-in replacement trigger for standard AR-15 style weapons. Installation takes less than five minutes and requires triggers pins that are sold separately. All Velocity Triggers are single-stage. They have a short and positive reset that is suitable for precision shooting as well as for 3-gun style competition use. Despite its low cost, Velocity Triggers do not sacrifice quality.